HMS Lively (1804)

{{main|Action of 5 October 1804}}

In October 1804, Lively was under the command of Captain Graham Eden Hamond.

File:John Thomas Serres - The blowing up of the Spanish Frigate Mercedes at the Battle of Cape Santa Maria, 1804.jpg, 1804, John Thomas Serres]]

On 5 October, a British squadron of four frigates, Lively, Medusa, {{HMS|Indefatigable|1784|2}} and Amphion and, with Graham Moore as Commodore, Indefatigable, intercepted four Spanish frigates under the command of Rear-Admiral Don Joseph Bustamente, Knight of the Order of St. James, off Cadiz. As it transpired later, they were carrying bullion from Montevideo, South America to Spain. Spain was at the time a neutral country, but was showing strong signs of declaring war in alliance with Napoleonic France. Acting on Admiralty orders Moore required the Spaniards to change their course and sail for England. Admiral Bustamente refused and a short engagement ensued.

First, Mercedes blew up. Then Indefatigable captured Medée and Lively captured Clara. After a further chase, Lively and Medusa captured Fama.

• Medée, the flagship, was armed with forty-two 18-pounder guns, on the main deck, and had a crew of 300 men. She lost two men killed and 10 wounded.
• Fama, the Commodore's ship, was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns on the main deck, and had a crew of 180 men. She lost 11 killed and 50 wounded.
• Clara was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns on the main deck, and had a crew of 300 men. She lost seven killed and 20 wounded.
• Mercedes was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns, on the main deck, and had a crew of 280 men. After she exploded the British were only able to rescue her second captain and 40 men.

Indefatigable had no casualties. Amphion had five men wounded, one badly. Lively had two killed and four wounded. Indefatigable and Amphion escorted Medée and Fama to Plymouth. Medusa and Lively brought in Clara.{{London Gazette|issue=15747|pages=1309–1310|date=20 October 1804}} The Royal Navy took Medea into service as {{HMS|Iphigenia|1804|2}} and Clara as {{HMS|Leocadia|1804|2}}.Colledge & Warlow (2010), pp. 197 & 226.

The value of the treasure was very large, and if it had been treated as Prize of War then Moore and his brother captains would have become extremely wealthy. As it was the money (and ships) were declared to be "Droits of Admiralty" on the grounds that war had not been declared, and the captains and crew shared a relatively small ex gratia payment of £160,000 for the bullion, plus the proceeds of the sale of the hull and cargo.{{London Gazette|issue=15859|page=1379|date=5 November 1805}}{{#tag:ref|For a seaman, the amount was £19 9s 11d.{{London Gazette|issue=15915|page=559|date=26 April 1806}} This probably represented almost a year's wages.|group=Note}}

{{main|Action of 7 December 1804}}

On 7 December Lively and {{HMS|Polyphemus|1782|2}} captured the Spanish frigate {{HMS|Santa Gertruyda|1804|2}} off Cape St Mary. The Royal Navy took her into service as Santa Gertruda, but did not commission the 40-year-old ship. Instead it used her as a receiving ship at Plymouth.Winfield (2008), p. 215.

In March 1805, Lively was attached to Sir James Craig's military expedition to Italy. Along with {{HMS|Dragon|1798|6}}, Craig's flagship, and HMS Ambuscade, Lively escorted the fleet of transports to Malta.von Pivka, Navies.

On 20 August 1810,{{cite journal |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044105232938;view=1up;seq=377 |title=The Marine List |journal=Lloyd's List |issue=4499 |date=5 October 1810 }} while escorting another convoy to Malta, HMS Lively ran aground on rocks near Point Coura, Malta, and was wrecked; there were no deaths. Workmen from the dockyard at Valletta attempted unsuccessfully to get her off. Work continued until late September when she was abandoned as a wreck after having been stripped of anything of use or value. The court martial dis-rated the master for having sailed too close to shore, and reprimanded the officer of the watch.Hepper (1994), p. 132.

Lively appears in Patrick O'Brian's novels Post Captain and HMS Surprise, with O'Brian's fictional naval officer, Jack Aubrey, in temporary command.

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• {{cite book|last=Hepper|first=David J.|year=1994|title=British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859|publisher=Jean Boudriot|location=Rotherfield|isbn=0-948864-30-3}}
• {{cite book | author=Otto von Pivka | title=Navies of the Napoleonic Era | publisher=David & Charles | year=1980 | isbn=0-7153-7767-1}}
• {{cite book |first=Rif|last=Winfield|title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates|publisher=Seaforth|year=2008|isbn=1-86176-246-1}}

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• {{Commons category-inline|HMS Lively (ship, 1804)}}
• Michael Phillips. [http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=1346 Lively (38) (1804)]. Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 3 September 2008.

{{coord missing|Mediterranean}}

{{1810 shipwrecks}}

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Category:Frigates of the Royal Navy

Category:Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Maritime incidents in 1810

Category:1804 ships